Now that I am no longer gainfully employed at Fred Flare, Inc., I’m making various lists of things I want to do with the time I once put to finances, human resources, and legal issues.
One of my goals is to read every book in my three-bookcase library. I’ve read many of them, but particularly those that were given me as gifts have waited their turn. Now it’s here.
I started last week by picking the first book on the top shelf of the bookcase in the piano room. Called Sudden Fiction, it’s a collection of short, short stories (also called flash fiction) by many different authors, some whose names are instantly recognizable (Ernest Hemingway) and others that are not. What characterizes these stories is that all are two thousand words or less.
I read most of them and also the various essays in the back about this genre. One of its hallmarks is that it leaves the reader feeling as if an entire story has been presented in a brief space without wrapping up all the loose ends. Personally, I found the stories that attempted to explain a small event rather than rewrite War and Peace for Dummies the more rewarding. I guess I don’t like loose ends.
The next unread book on the same shelf is David Guterson’s the country ahead of us, the country behind (sic). And once I finish the selection I’m reading for my book club, Mr. Guterson will get his turn.
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